Change- Another Transformers Story
by D.D. Natanya
Summary: No bot knew who shot down the Decepticon Second, and no bot knew what to think when the plummeting seeker landed on their youngest member. But most of all, no bot knew how the frag neither of them were killed.
1. The Beginning

**Nano-klik = 1.273 seconds**

**Klik = 1.2 minutes**

**Breem= 8.3 minutes**

**Joor/Groon = hour**

**Cycle = 1 hour 15 minutes**

**Orbital Cycle =1 day**

**Mega-cycle = 93 hours**

**Orn = 13 days**

**Deca-cycle = 3 weeks**

**Stellar cycle= 7.3 months**

**Meta-cycle = 13 months**

**Solar cycle = 11 years**

**Vorn = 83 years**

Falling.

She was falling, dropping like a stone, left wing mangled and shot to near nothingness, one thruster billowing smoke, the other missing altogether. The air was whipping past her frame, turning her around and around until she had no idea which way was up and which way was down.

she hadn't even see who did it, and at the moment, she didn't really care. Her processer froze, her vocalizer refused to work, not uttering even the weakest of whimpers, not that she would have known if she was screaming bloody murder.

All she could do was watch as the ground got closer, ever closer. Bringing with it horrible images of a mangled red and white body.

She could feel the panic over her trine bond, the horror that emanated from their sparks as they were forced to watch her fall, too far away and too damaged to do anything about it. And still all she could do was watch.

Finally, less than a mile above the Earth, she sent out a wave of comfort over her family bond, offlined her optics, and waited for the pain of impact to come.

Except it never did.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

No bot in the Autobot ranks really knew who dealt the blow that grounded the Decepticon Second in Command and Air Commander Starscream, but at the moment no bot really cared.

At first, they hadn't cared because the Decepticon Second in Command had been shot out of the sky, a task not easily accomplished.

But in the span of a nano-klik they didn't care for an entirely different reason.

The battle previously waged and currently forgotten had been one of the longest and most brutal since the Cybertronians arrival on Earth, and as a consequence many had been injured spectacularly. Bumblebee especially had taken one too many hits, and was leaning immobilized against a rock out a ways from the battle. Directly under Starscreams falling frame.

Dread immediately crushed any semblance of pride or accomplishment any of the autobots may have been feeling. With cries of dismay and fear, even Prime rushed from the battle, attempting to reach their injured comrade before the plummeting Seeker did. Though they all knew it was hopeless.

With sickening accuracy, Starscream landed atop the young Autobot scout, horrifying screams of pain echoing all across the battlefield, petrifying even the strongest of the Autobot forces.

Vaguely Megatron calling for a retreat could be heard in the background, and while some that it typical for Megatron to leave behind his Second, others sprung to life.

Optimus was the first to reach the disturbingly large crater, and, taking into consideration the possible trauma many of his bots could receive from seeing their youngest member in the state he was undoubtedly in, motioned for his troops to stay behind.

Though, even when expecting the worst, nothing could have prepared him for what was sitting at the bottom of the crater.

For a klik he just... stared, and then he heard the sound of someone clearing their intakes, obviously trying to get his attention. Turning he saw Ratchet had stepped away from the line of mechs and now stood only a couple of feet away from the stunned Prime.

Wordlessly he stepped to the side, a signal for the medic to approach, and promptly returned his attention to the crater.

In two strides the medic was by his side, and in two strides he was as speechless as his leader.

Though it was over in a nano-klik.

"Sparklings?" was the only thing that left the medics vocalizer. And indeed, there were sparklings.

Two of them. One a minibot, the other a seekerlet, and they were both staring up at the two adults with wide, innocent optics.

And as the entire Autobot faction surged forward to see, Prime could only wonder what the frag he was gonna do with sparklings.

**Ah~ the bunny farm, where useless yet adorable bunnies will randomly hop up to you and demand to be played with. Yet, never before have I met one so persistent.**

**Yes, I think I will have some reviews, thank you.**


	2. One Half

**Nano-klik = 1.273 seconds**

**Klik = 1.2 minutes**

**Breem= 8.3 minutes**

**Joor/Groon = hour**

**Cycle = 1 hour 15 minutes**

**Orbital Cycle =1 day**

**Mega-cycle = 93 hours**

**Orn = 13 days**

**Deca-cycle = 3 weeks**

**Stellar cycle= 7.3 months**

**Meta-cycle = 13 months**

**Solar cycle = 11 years**

**Vorn = 83 years **(3 Vorn= 2 years... basically)

**~Never before did I expect to get so many reviews on the first day of posting my story.~**

**::Wheeljack, this is Ratchet, I need you to prepare the medbay for wounded, and tell Perceptor to meet us at the entrance to the Ark. ETA two breems.::**

**The Autobot head Engineer jumped slightly at the unexpected hail, thus cuting the red wire instead of the blue.**

**"Oh Slag."**

**Ratchet could hear the boom over the Private comm.**

**::Wheeljack? Wheeljack, answere frag it!::**

**Said mech groaned before sitting up and blearily looking around. Sighing sadly about the destuction of his latest invention, a basketball that would actually survive a game with players their size, a sparkingday presant for Optimus, he activated his internal microphone.**

**"Roger that, Ratch on my way. And tell Optimus that I picked up more of the wierd radiation readings thanks to that device you guys planted at the beging of the battle, and they spiked way higher than originaly anticapated."**

**::... How much higher?::**

**"Um, about 3000 Rads."**

**::That makes 4000!:: Ratchet sputtered over the comm. Sure, 4000 Rads wasn't enough to do anything to their circuites, they were too advanced for that, but there had been a small human residance nearby, and if death was imminent at 1000 rads... he didn't want to think about it.**

**Wheeljack stood up and started making his way to the med-bay, also pinging Perceptor to meet Prime upon arrival. Though he wasn't sure what Optimus would want Percy for, maybe they were bringing back whatever it was the Decepti-creeps were after.**

**"So, did you guys find out what the Decepticons were out and about for?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.**

**::No. He handed it off to one of the Seekers, no one saw which, though. I gotta go, 'Jack, one of my patience is deciding he can drive back to base on his own, oh, and 'Jack?::**

**Wheeljack froze. He knew that tone of voice. It was the tone Ratchet only ever used when one of their team mates was hurt near beyond repear.**

**"What happened, who's hurt?" He asked, unable to keep the panic out of his voice.**

**::Well, everyones hurt to one degree or another, but Bumblebee... you, Percy and Firstaid are just gonna have to see for yourselfs.:: With that Ratchet cut the comm. Leaving a undeniably panicked engineer standing alone in the halls of the Ark.**

**Pulling himself together, Wheeljack finished making his way to the med-bay, where a grim masked Fistaid met him at the door, no doubt having heard the full report of Bumblebee's condition so they could be prepared, in case of the worst possible out come.**

**Walking past him, Wheeljack started pulling out the basic tools, unable to think of anything other than the small scout and what shape he'd be in when he got here...**

**~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~**

**It had been Vorns since Ironhide had seen a youngling, the last one being Bumblebee, after he found him in the ruins of the main youngling seeker care center in Iacon at the beggining of the war. Every couple had decided that having a youngling then would have just been too dangerous, and thus no more protoforms were sparked. So to suddenly have to put up with not only another youngling after hundreds of vorn, but to have to put up with youngling Bumblebee again was not something he had expected or even wanted.**

**Because despite what some may believe, Bumblebee was not a tame youngling even when only three Vorn old. And for whatever reason that only Primus knew of, all his previous injuries had been **_**healed in the crash landing**_**. Thus making for one very happy and bouncy sparkling and one very irratated and worn out Ironhide.**

**Of couse, Bumlebee would never ride in any bot else, because (oh joy) while he knew and trusted them all well enough when he was older, it seemed all memory of ever **_**being**_** older had been wiped from the younglings prosseser. Which meant he only knew those he knew then, and didn't know those who he knew now.**

**The same went for the youngling Startscream.**

**Ironhide still had no idea what possessed his leader to let the Decepticon sparkling ride in his cab, his trailer would have been better at least, but **_**no.**_** He was letting the **_**Decepticon Second in Command**_** ride in his **_**cabbie.**_

**Never mind he was a sparkling, it was still a blatent disregard for protocal and a mager risk to the Prime's saftey. **

_**'He's only a sparkling, Ironhide.' **_**Right. Only a sparkling. Prime seemed to have forgotten he was also a **_**seeker **_**sparkling, one of the most energetic, loud, destructive, annoying breeds of sparklings to ever exist. And minibot spakling could be horrible, too.**

**Speaking of said pit spawn.**

**A sudden jerk left on his steering wheel had Ironhide franticaly swerving to avoid raming his leader in the side, as well as his pulling his attention back to the small mechling in his cab. Tiny black hands grasped the round device as their owner giggled, horned head bobbing up and down with each turn.**

**"Bumblebee, what have I told you about turning Sub-Sire's steering wheel?" He demanded, internally scowling.**

**"DA *bzzzz* SRRR *click* RAN TOK *click*." Came the younglings reply, followed by an enthusiastic laugh and clapping servos.**

**With a sigh, Ironhide turned on his radio. Bumblebee had always liked music from his native city of Simfur, and Ironhide, being the rather sentimental fool he was, had kept many of the younglings favorite albums even after he had gotten his adult frame.**

**As the song started the mechling quieted, stareing at the sorce of the sound as an instrament similar to an Earthern violin played from the speakers, soon acompanied by several others, all blending to make a soft sparklings lullaby. **

**In klicks the yellow menace with in recharge, soft ex-vent hiccups accompanying each intake.**

**Had Ironhide been in his bipedal mode, he would have sagged to the ground in relief. Give him Decepticon invasions any time, any where, but when it came to sparlklings, one Bumblebee was all he needed, thanks.**

**"Ironhide, how is your charge?" The red mechs spark pulse faultered slightly as the Prime's voice blared through his radio, interupting the soft sound of the Simfur Orchestra and making his passenger shift sligtly, nearly woken.**

**::FRAGGIT PRIME! Keep your vocalizer on mute, would ya?:: He growled over the private comm. link, spark still fluctuating dangerously.**

**::Forgive me, Ironhide, I had forgotten how much of a servoful Bumblebee was-is- as a youngling.::**

**::You and me both.:: He grumbled. ::And he's fine, out like a light, as the humans say. How's the prisoner doing?::**

**::Starscream is not our prisoner, Ironhide. He has no memory of any wrong he has done and will thus be treated accordingly, we discussed this.::**

**Ironhide sighed, his leader was too noble for his own good. ::Yessir:: He rumbled, disspleasure undoubtably obvious, but leaving the subject alone nonetheless. **

**Optimus Prime sighed as his body guard terminated the link, making him wonder if he would ever warm up to the seekerlet in his cab, but then again, would he have too?**

**Maybe this transformation was only temorary, or permanant on its own but not without a cure? Afterall, he did have cybertrons best medical officer, two top scientist, and an engineer that when not blowing himself up could build **_**anything**_**.**

**He may not have to worry about how Starscream would be treated, or Bumblebee, but he doubted his men would do anything to the mechling, they were far too attached to the older one. Starscream on the other servo...**

**A small blue hand on his dashboard had the Prime turning his sensors inward, to where the seekerlet was quietly sitting, surprisingly comfortably, in his cab. **

**"Yes, Starscream?" His voice was strong, but quiet, and gental. It had been many years since the Prime had had to use that tone of voice, and never before had it even occurd to him in his wildest rechard flux's that he would use it with Starscream.**

**The seekerlet didn't say anything, he just pointed out the window, where trees native to Earth were zipping by in a blur of green, brown, and, beyond the trees, blue.**

**That was another thing that bothered him. He had heard stories since he was just a youngling of seekerlets, how they were twice as tall as a groundling youth and three times more visious, with horrible screams and screechy voices. Older Starscream had been some form of proof to those tales, he supposed. Yet, even if there was some kind of truth to the tales, Starscream seemed to be one of the few that would change their point of view, as odly as it sounded.**

**"You mean the trees?" He asked, a nod was his answere. "Yes, thery're quite differant from what we had on Cybertron, but they are beautiful in their own way. Perhaps I could get one of the others mechs to show you and Bumblebee around." he had already figured Starscream and Bumblebee would discover they weren't on their home planet, of course, it was kind of a give away.**

**At the mention of the other youngling Starscream seemed to perk up a bit.**

**Shifting slightly, the seekerlet moved so he was stareing out the passenger side window, where he could see the recharging youngling through Ironhide's driver window. Optimus felt him drop his helm to the window, warm ex-vents ghosting across the cool glass, sending a tingly sensation through the Prime.**

**It was strange, without a doubt, how quickly the seekerlet had become attached to the ex-scout. **

**When he had gone down into the crater to retrive the Mechs-turned-sparklings, Starscream had automatically wrapped his small arms around the shivering Bumblebee and pulled him closely to his cockpit. A scowl that would have put Ratchet to shame placed on the younglings face, optics clearly saying, **_**'Touch him and deactivate'**_**, and had Bumblebee not spotted Irohide above them, he had no doubt that's what the seekerlet would have done.**

**His musings were cut short as a ping from Prowl alerted him of their arrival at the Ark. And- oh Primus, was that **_**Perceptor?!**_** Well frag. He had hoped to at least get Bumblebee and Starcream inside before a Q&A session was started.**


	3. Blaster

**Nano-klik = 1.273 seconds**

**Klik = 1.2 minutes**

**Breem= 8.3 minutes**

**Joor = hour**

**Groon = 1 hour 15 minutes**

**Orbital Cycle =1 day**

**Mega-cycle = 93 hours**

**Orn = 13 days**

**Deca-cycle = 3 weeks**

**Stellar cycle= 7.3 months**

**Meta-cycle = 13 months**

**Solar cycle = 11 years**

**Vorn = 83 years**

**Kil = 1.5 feet**

Blaster was the first mech to exit the emergency portion of the Medbay, around five or six breem's after entering. Ratchet could work miracles when he had a lot of work ahead of him, after all, most medics wouldn't be able to fix a completely detached left arm, a shattered optic lens, and three laser burns after only a couple joors.

Rolling the rotatory cuff of afro mentioned arm, the tape-deck player sighed in relief as the joint slid smoothly in it's place. That medic may have the bedside manner of a rampaging Dinobot, but when it came to his job, there were none better.

Sighing, he scanned the bots in the outer medbay area, where FirstAid and Perceptor where taking care of the more minor injuries. That is, when they wern't too busy staring at the two youngest mechs to be seen since the golden age of Cybertron.

It was that thought that caused Blaster's optics to skip over the rest of the room and come to rest in the corner furthest from him.

"Well I'll be a petro-rats uncle." He muttered quietly to himself, still not quite able to believe he optics. Of course, no else could, either, if the nervous glances were anything to go by.

Ironhide sat on the floor, leaning against on of the walls making up the corner furthest from Blaster and quite close to the medbay doors. A very hyper Bumblebee bouncing in his lap as he tried to not only restrain the mechling, but also keep a mistrustful optic on the other youngling sitting on the floor next to him.

The little red and white seeker had hardly moved since the last time Blaster had seen him, and from what he could tell, the ex-Decepticon had no intention of going anywhere anytime soon, too engrossed with whatever it was the seekerling had in his servos. Not that Ironhide would let him move two Kil if his Spark depended on it.

Everybot knew of Ironhide's opinion of keeping Starscream, and many backed him up in his argument, and many opposed it, Blaster was one of the few who didn't know where he stood.

From not only physical evidence, but also evidence given via Preceptor Starscream retained no memory of his former self, which meant he was just as innocent as any Sparkling at his age. But at the same time, he had fought against that particulate Decepticon personally on more than one occasion and for more than five solar cycles. Many of the had.

Oh well. He would just have to wait and see what would happen.

He only got a glance of the trio before Perceptor spotted him and ushered him out of the medbay, proclaiming the three had had enough gawking to last them a lifetime and needed no more from him.

The sounds of Ironhide standing up and running after another smaller set of peds followed him out the door, along with a loud crash quickly followed by a squeal of delight.

With an annoyed sigh Blaster made his way down the hall, heading to his quarters to get some much needed recharge, per Medics orders.

So consumed with his own thoughts of the Arks small visitor, Blatser didn't notice a tiny frame slip out the medbay door as it slipped shut. Nor did he notice the extra shadow following in wake of his large peds.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Starscream had grown tired of sitting. Despite all the practice she had with staying still and out of the way of her Sire's large fist, she was a seekerling, and seekerling's needed to move. At least, that's what her Carrier told her.

The thought of her Carra brought confusion and fear back to the forefront of Starscream's young processer, now stronger than before and unwilling to be ignored.

Along with the emotions came questions, many questions. Where was she? Where were her brother and sister? Where was her Carra? Who where all these strange mechs? What did they want with her? Her Sire had told her stories, stories of what happened to bad femmelings when they ran away from their home, from their family. Stories that terrified even her older brother, who was almost sixteen vorn old himself.

Had she been bad? She couldn't remember doing anything her Sire had deemed bad recently, she didn't remember running away either. Maybe she had been Sparkling napped? That sounded like a possibility but then where had they taken her? What she had seen outside looked nothing like the Cybertron she had grown up on. The sky was so blue, there was so much green, and she knew she had seen _something_ move in all the... trees? when the large red mech had carried her into the large space ship.

These were the thoughts running rampant through her processor when the large red and yellow mech stepped out of the doors in the back of the room. His unusual design and friendly smile instantly caught Starscreams attention.

She lifted her head to glance at the red mech sitting next to her. While he was somewhat patient and friendly with the little yellow sparkling, -who Starscream had secretly claimed as her new little brother- he would snap and glare at her every chance he got, even though she never talked.

Looking away from the gruff mech, she almost squealed when she met his staring optics. They looked like kind optics, because the reminded her of her Carra. Maybe this mech knew her Carra? He did seem like the kind of mechanoid her Carra liked to have over when her Sire allowed it.

Quickly looking down, her grip tightened on the datapad the large white mech had given her when she fist walked in. It was very interesting, talking about the inhabitants of this planet. So far the bird was her favorite, colorful, able to fly, _and_ they could sing. But... she was still tired of sitting.

peeking back up at the funny mech, Starscream was dismayed to see him being pushed out the doors on the opposite side of the room by... another red mech.

Primus. They were all so brightly colored, but had such a small variety of color. Read and orange and orange and red. Then again, she was red too.

She was about to go back to reading her now very uninteresting datapad when Bumblebee spotted something he liked across the room and ran after it, causing the grumpy red mech to curse a little too loudly and bolt after the yellow hooligan, leaving Starscream with a perfect view of the slowly closing medbay door the funny mech had just walked through.

After a mere moments thought, Starscream decided the temptation was far too big.

In a blur of red, white, and blue, the femmeling was out the door in nano-kliks. For a moment she stared down one hallway, unsure of what to do. Turning her head, she spotted the funny mech walking down the other hall. With a small smile, Starscream ran quickly, but quietly, after him, eager to learn the unfamilair mechs name. She didn't know what it was, but something about him reminded her of her Carra. Though he was taller. And bigger. And looked kinda funny.

Smile growing minutely bigger, she slowed her pace as she got closer, close enough to touch him. Reaching out a small blue servo, Starscream intended to inform the mech of her presence when an angry cry and loud curse reverberated from down the hall.

The femmeling froze in place, fear gripping her rapidly beating spark. Whipping around, her small frame nearly collapsed in relief when all she saw was the back of the surly mech as he chased after the barely visible blur that was Bumblebee running down the oppiste hallway, high pitched giggles echoing all the way.

A deep chuckle from above her had Starscream looking up, smile back on her face. Though it dropped a little when she noticed he wasn't looking at her, infact, he still didn't seem to know she was there.

She liked his smile, it was kind and intelligent, just like her Carra's.

And then he was walking again. Starscream looked back down the hall to where Bumblebee had led the large mech off on a "merry" chase, and then she looked back over her winglet to the mech version of her Carra. Was it worth it to get yelled at by that big grump...?

After only a rather brief thought, she turned and trotted after the strange mech. She could live with getting yelled at, Pit, she could live with getting hit by the older mech, her Sire did it all the time, why would a change in frame make a difference?

Starscream followed him for about a breem before he came to a stop outside a door. She watched him palm in a pass code, subconsciously memorizing the digits, before the door slid open to reveal a incredibly cluttered berthroom.

Frag, it looked worse than her house when her Sire came home after a hard day in the Pit.

Watching the mech walk into his room, she waited half a klik before walking up to the large door and softly knocking on it. Her hand dropped to her side as it slid open to show the rather startled looking mech, wide blue optics staring into equally wide red ones. She didn't know why her Sire insisted on her and her siblings having red opitcs. Really, she wanted purple optics, like all the other seekers that lived in Vos, the legendary city of the seeker Queen and her people. At least, her Carra said all the other seekers had purple optics.

For a klik the two just stared at each other, Blaster unsure of what to do and Starscream waiting for... something, anything, really.

"Uh..." the large mech shifted nervously from ped to ped. "Hi." he finished lamely, still staring at the youngling infront of him.

"Neh." She replied quietly, using her birth learned language. They were lucky her Sire was a groundpounder, otherwise she probably wouldn't even be able to understand them.

For a moment longer he just stared at her, and then he seemed to come to life, standing up strate and tall, still looking at her though.

"So... what can I do you for?" He asked in a casual tone, thought Starscream could see him looking around almost frantically. She paid it no mind.

Leaning to the side, she peered around his slightly spread legs into the room beyond them, then looked back up at him expectantly.

He seemed to consider it a moment, before shrugging and stepping to the side, allowing her room to enter.

"Sure, why not?" he asked, more to himself than to her.

The seekerling practically bounced into the room, winglets vibrating in excitement She quickly scanned the room. It was so full of color! So Pretty! So homey! So... what was that sound?

Looking around, she ignored all the posters of funny looking organics and a few Cybertronian bands, searching for that sound.

She had no doubt that the large mech wouldn't be able to hear it, her brother said her hearing was beyond that of even a large horned tyrbo glitch hound. And they had some pretty big audio horns.

It was quiet, but it was still there, what was it? It sounded...nice. Looking around, Starscream turned up the sensativity on her audio receptors and tilted her head to the side, trying to hear better.

Behind her Blaster frowned. "Hey there, kid, somethin' wrong?" He asked, dropping to one knee next to her. Ratchet would kill him if he broke the ex-Decepticon... could you even break a sparkling? Blaster wondered, then jumped as said Sparkling sprung to life.

Skipping out of reach of the older mech, Blaster could only stare dumbfounded as the Starscream reached under his personal berth and pulled out his wireless transmitter.

It was were he kept all his music, and it was set to his private comm. frequency Starscream shouldn't have been able to hear it. And yet, there he was, holding it up to his audio with a look of absolute wonder on that unbelievably young face.

Excitement clear, she held out the small device to the crouching red mech, optics bright with awe as she tried to show him. After a moment Blaster chuckled before reaching out to take the "iPod", he believed the humans would refer to it as. Smiling, he groped around blindly under his berth for a moment before finding what he wanted. Retracting his arm, he came out with a small set of speakers, which he immediately plugged into the iPod.

A heavy beat filled the room causing Starscream jump in surprise and Blaster chuckle in amusement.

Sending the older mech a half sparked scowl, Starscream slowly inched toward the source of the noise before plopping herself down, staring intently.

Blaster chuckled again. "You dig that, my main S?" He asked, watching the seekerlings winglets bounce in time to the beat.

Nodding her head, Starscream let out a happy trill as a new song started.

Sitting down next to the red seeker, Blaster decided if the seekerling liked Earth music, he couldn't be all bad.

**Sorry it took so long, guys. Been gone all weekend and had no time ta write. Thnx fur bein' patient~**


	4. Ratchet

**Nano-klik = 1.273 seconds**

**Klik = 1.2 minutes**

**Breem= 8.3 minutes**

**Joor = hour**

**Groon = 1 hour 15 minutes**

**Orbital Cycle =1 day**

**Mega-cycle = 93 hours**

**Orn = 13 days**

**Deca-cycle = 3 weeks**

**Stellar cycle= 7.3 months**

**Meta-cycle = 13 months**

**Solar cycle = 11 years**

**Vorn = 83 years (16 Vorn, by the way, is only five or six years old.)**

**~I AM SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! But I have no excuses, only hope that none of you have abandond this story just yet. To those of you still with me: Enjoy.~**

**(OH! And I forgot to mention, when they turned into sparklings they reverted by to their Cybertronian alt. mode)**

Ratchet was not looking forward to this.

Oh yes, he remembered having Bumblebee as a patient when Ironhide was his acting guardian And while he had taken his medicine like a true mech, nothing, and he meant _nothing_, could make the youngling sit still for injections. Not even the promise of 30 tons of rust sticks and Scrapheap Chunk cones.

One time, he remembered, over a million Vorns ago, he had had to call in the entire staff of his small clinic to hold down the yellow menace while he was given his weekly pain dampeners.

He didn't even want to think about what the ex-Decepticon Second in Command would be like. He hadn't treated many a seeker, but the ones he had had never, _ever_ been a pleasant experience.

Thank Primus he had had to fix all the Arks crew member's before he had needed to think about it too long, but now they were all fixed, more than fixed, even. Neither Sunstreaker nor Tracks had so much as a scratch on their finely waxed chassis to whine about.

So, it was the tiny terror's turn. Oh joy.

Mimicking something he had seen Sparkplug do, Ratchet ran a tired servo over his optics, almost as though to wipe away the wariness.

Deciding he had delayed as long as he dared, the Hatchet started making his way over to the main room of the medbay, and to his decided doom.

Palming open the door, he stopped in surprise when the lighting increased to their normal setting upon his entrance.

Strange, the lights only ever dimmed when no one was in the medbay, but Wheeljack had left only two kliks ago and Ironhide and the sparklings should still have been in there...

::Ironhide, this is Ratchet, where the frag are you?::

::Ratchet? I'm jus' taken 'bee fer a walk outside the Ark, slaggin' young'ins got too much energy. Why?:: Ratchet straightened from his unknown hunched position, ready to bellow at his oldest friend, when he realized Ironhide had only mentioned Bumblebee.

::Just Bumblebee?:: He asked, and then regretted it. He didn't much agree with how his friend treated Starscream, even if it was _Starscream, _but he also knew that when Ironhide had an opinion of someone, he stuck with it. '

::Yeah, I left the lil red pit spawn back in the medbay with 'Jack.:: Ratchet heard his friend pause and could almost see the curious/questioning/suspicious and ever present angry expression on his friends faceplates. ::Why?::

::No, reason.:: Ratchet answered in his usually gruff voice, trying not to give anything away. ::The youngling just caught me by surprise, is all.:: _'Cause, you know, I kinda thought he'd be here when I was ready for him._ Needless to say he didn't say that. ::I need you to bring 'Bee back here, it's time for his and Starscream's... checkups.:: He could _feel_ Ironhide shudder in horror. Neither of them were looking forward to this in the slightest.

::A'rihght, but Ah can't promise it'll be fun when we get thare.::

::And I can't promise it'll be pretty.::

Cutting the comm. Ratchet quickly opened a new link to the security room, he needed to track down that seekerling. Preferably without Ironhide's knowledge that he had even left.

::Ratchet to Security Chamber.::

::Oh! Hey Ratchet! I didn't think I'd be hearing from you when I began my shift! That's cool, I always enjoy talking to you-:: Great, Blustreak was on security detail today, which meant Inferno must have finally gotten Red Alert to take a break. Oh well, Ratchet supposed he preferred the chatty Datsun over the paranoid security director in this case. ::-but I'm still surprised you called. I haven't seen Sides pulling any pranks and there haven't been any fights lately outside of that bout with the Decepticons so I don't know why you'd need to comm. Boy, that fight really came out of nowhere, didn't it? Not even Prowl knew that the 'Cons were on the move before we got that distress signal. Shows you you can't really predict the future, huh? At least, I don't think you can predict the future, but there are some pretty crazy Sigma Abilities out there, so you never know. Unless there's a Sigma Ability for that too, but anyway, what did you need, Ratchet?::

Picking his jaw up from off the floor, Ratchet cleared his ex-vents in embarrassment. No matter how many times you got caught on the receiving end of it, you never got used to Bluestreaks rambling. Even Prowl, who had raised the mechanoid since younglinghood, still found his processor numb after a one-sided conversation with the gunner.

::I just need you to tell my if you see any... small mechling's running around.::

::...small mechling's? You mean like the minibots? Well, I wouldn't exactly call them mechling's, not even Bumblebee is -was- much of a mechling before... the incident, and he was the youngest of all of us, but no, they're all still in their quarters, recharging after the battle like you told them to. Is that why you called? Because you think they're going to ruin all your hard work?::

::No Blue, I'm looking for Starscream, Ironhide took 'Bee for a walk around the base but he left Starscream in the medbay without my knowledge, now our beloved ex-Adult isn't anywhere in here. I'm wondering if you've seen him.:: Blunt. He needed this done quickly, Ironhide would be back with Bumblebee any klik now.

::Oh... no, I'm sorry Ratchet, I've only been on duty for a couple kliks now, I haven't seen much of anything yet. But I could go back through the feeds! You said he'd only been missing as long as Ironhide had been outside, and that's only been a couple of joor, so I'll just go through those kliks in fast forward and see if the camera's caught anything. Don't worry Ratchet, I'll find that missing Seekerling before-::

::WHAT!:: Ratchet could only wince as a third voice cut through Bluestreak's rant -obviously having heard the current situation- and effectively ending the conversation as Ratchet cut the line. Of course, from where he was on the ship opposed to Bluestreak, he was too far away to even hope to get to the gunner before the clearly peeved Security Director. Thus he could do nothing more than pity the unfortunate mech.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Bluestreak froze as the horribly familiar silhouette of Red Alert loomed at him from the entrance to the shadowy security room.

"Oh, hi Red Alert. I thought you were supposed to be with Inferno getting energon in the rec room. You know, I heard Sideswipe whipped up a new batch of-" The gunners monologue was cut short by the low hiss of the door closing ominously behind head of security as he stepped further into his domain.

_Not good._ The Datsun thought, silently praying to Primus he could get away from Red Alerts wrath before the Lamborghini could do something they would _both _regret.

"What. Do. You. Mean. Missing. Seekerling?" Red Alert hissed, horns sparking blue ever so slightly.

"Ah..." Bluestreaks optics flicked back and forth rapidly between Red Alert and the now closed security room door, before they fell upon a large red button right by his right servo.

In Case Of Emergency

...It was better than getting slagged by his superior officer, he reasoned, as the palm of his servo landed loudly on the klaxon trigger.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Much to Blaster's surprise, and possibly horror, it was another two groon before anyone noticed their little visitor was gone.

That is, if the blaring sirens echoing throughout the halls of the base were anything to go by.

Sighing, he grabbed the startled seekerlet and held him close to his broad chest plates, attempting to comfort the now sobbing sparkling.

He sighed. Trust Red Alert to make a sparkling cry without even having _seen_ them yet.

And he had been so enjoying having someone to listen to music with.

"Shhhhh, 's OK little S, 's just Red Alert, nothing to be twitchy over." He cooed in Starscream's audio receptor, bouncing the youngling gently as he walked out of his room.

Pressing his free servo to his own audio horn, he quickly pinged Inferno to let the Fire Truck know he had Starscream, and that Red Alert could quit the light show.

Halfway to the medbay the alarms finally quieted, making it easier for Blaster to calm down the shivering seekerlet.

Looking down at Starscream black helm, he rose a servo to softly stroke it, playing a melodious tune through his speakers as the last of the Seekerlets sobs quieted to soft hiccups.

Placing a large black servo on Starscream's back, his attention was instantly drawn to the quivering winglets. For a moment he just stared, hypnotized by the nervous fluttering. The boom box 'former had heard many a story about seekers, many of them unflattering, but probably the most common was that the wings of a seeker -similar to a Praxians doorwings- were _extremely_ sensitive. (Though, he supposed they would have to be, seeing as how seekers spent most their time flying.)

He had often come across a distraught Bluestreak, suffering from either a scare from a recent battle or the aftermath a another recharge flux, and had found that softly stroking the grey Praxians doorwings helped sooth the gunners nerves, and he couldn't help but wonder if it would work for the seekerling.

Tracing the red stripe running down the wing, he felt the seekerlet tense in his grasp before all tension seemed to bleed from the small frame. Chuckling slightly, he nearly stopped his hurried steps in surprise when the sparkling in his arms _purred_. Looking down in surprise, he chuckled again at the sight of the seekerlet practically a puddle of goo in his large arms.

Continuing his walk, Blaster arrived at the medbay in time to see an irritated Ratchet storming across the now mostly empty medbay towards him, his favorite wrench swinging menacingly by his side.

"Hey, Ratch'. Dun s'pose ya've been lookin' for this one?" Blaster asked, indicating the quiet, but now very twitchy seekerlet with the servo he had been using to stroke Starscreams wings.

Coming to a stop before the tape-deck player, Ratchet pinned the slightly taller mech with a glare that could level cities.

"I don't suppose you have a good explanation as to why one of my most delicate patients is up running around with _you_ of all mechs?" The medic practically growled, neither of the adults noticing how Starscream balked at being called _delicate._

"Wha'? You think I had somethin' ta do with-"

"I honestly don't care what you did or didn't do! Right now, you should just be _thankful_ I noticed Starscream was missing before _Ironhide _did! Though I'd be astonished if he still didn't know, thanks to a certain paranoid GLITCH." Turning toward the nearest camera, Ratchet held up his wrench in a threatening gesture. "You'd better start praying to Primus right now, Red Alert. 'Cause as soon as I'm done here I'm coming to weld your aft to the ceiling!" He snarled.

A soft giggle drew his attention back to the mechs infront of him, and he couldn't help but smile ever so slightly. Starscream peeked out at the loud white mech from where she had tucked her face into Blasters chest piece, a shy grin on her face half hidden by a tiny blue servo.

It was at that moment Ironhide practically flew into the medbay, plowing into Blaster in the process and sending both mechs and their charges onto the floor.

Starscream let out a cry of pain as a heavy and much larger frame landed on top of her. She could _feel_ the sensitive metal of her wing give way under the unexpected weight, bending and twisting as it was pinned between the floor and the bulky form above her.

She writhed in agony, trying her hardest not to scream. It would be bad if she screamed.

"Primus! Starscream, I'm so sorry!" the frame above her cried, and suddenly she was no longer being crushed. She was lifted of the floor in warm strong arms, tiny frame shuddering with every withheld sob.

Blaster looked down at the shivering seeker in his arms, a look of anguish on his face when he spotted her left wing.

"Ratchet!" He almost whined. The medic looked up from where he had been inspecting a dazed and crying Bumblebee, and a furious and guilty looking Ironhide. A single glimpse was the only he needed to spot the problem.

Standing up, he gestured for Blaster to put Starscream on the nearest berth and went to a shelf, retrieving a few choice tools.

Walking over to the now seated sparkling, he took a moment to notice Blaster rubbing soothing circles on the undamaged wing. Taking note of it, he shooed the mech out of his way so he could better inspect the injury.

All in all it didn't _look_ too bad, but of course, looks are always deceiving He could see the slightly swollen appearance of the wing, meaning enough energon lines had been ruptured to fill the wing, also the sparking sounds cooing from within meant that one too many circuits had been crushed. The pain Starscream must be feeling at the moment was undoubtedly excruciating, the sparkling should have been on the floor kicking and screaming.

Curious.

Leaning in closer to the quivering frame, he set his vocalizer to the softest setting possible.

"Starscream?" He asked. When the sparkling turned his head slightly to face him, the seekerlet pinned him with a pained yet still questioning look.

"Starscream." He repeated, this time with more urgency. "Your wing is broken, and in order to fix it, I'm going to need to remove it." At the seekers hesitant nod, he reached for a syringe, quickly filling it with a thick blue substance lanced with green.

"Now, I'm going to sedate you-" He was caught off by a sharp gasp and the seeker in front of him practically flying of the berth.

"HEY! GET BACK UP THERE!" Ratchet heard Ironhide snap, and quickly pinned his oldest friend with a glare worthy of Unicron.

Of course, he was ignored.

Ironhide stomped over to the now trembling seekerlet in the middle of the room, an air of resentment resonating off his frame.

Starscream took one look at the large red _angry _mech towering over her, and decided she didn't feel fine with being hit by him anymore. Finally, she burst into tears.

It was too much, So much had happened, so much had changed, she just didn't know what to do.

Falling down on her aft, Starscream brought her small blue servos up to her optics, cleanser tumbling down her faceplates as silent sobs rocked her frame.

"IRONHIDE!" Ratchet snapped. Ironhide had the decency to look rather guilty.

Feeling something brush past his leg, Ratchet looked down in time to see Bumblebee dart past Ironhide and fling himself at the other youngling, tiny yellow arms encasing the sobbing sparkling.

Spark melting, Ratchet took a step toward the two mechs, only to be unintenionally shoved to the side as Blaster beat him to it.

"Shhh," The boom box cooed, dipping to one knee and scooping both younglings into his arms, mindful of the still damaged wing.

"Shhh, little S, 's alright. Jus' ignore Ironhide, I ain't gonna let 'im touch ya, ya dig?" Blaster murmured in Starscreams audio, hiccuping sobs escaping her vocalizer.

"Set him down on the berth, lets fix up that wing." Ratchet instructed, sedative still in his hand. And to think he was going to try and calm down a panicked sparkling while holding it.

Instead of putting Starscream on the berth, however, Blaster sat down on it himself. Positioning both younglings so each was on a knee, Blaster gently turned Starscream around so her back was facing Ratchet, hoping not being able to see the needle would calm the youngling down some.

It didn't.

Thanks to the air pressure sensitiveness of her wings, Starascream knew exactly what the big white medic was approaching her with. However, she decided panicking had gotten her nowhere (as it often didn't), and simply leaned the opposite way when the medic reached for her with the needle.

"Hey, hold still!" He grummbled. She liked his voice. It was gruff like the red mechs but kind like Blasters.

She leaned forward this time.

"I said hold still!" He shouted. But she didn't _want_ to hold still. If she held still, then he would be able to fill her with that horrible stuff that made her helm feel funny and hard for her to think.

She didn't like not being able to think, it made her feel helpless, even if her Cara said she had one of the most powerful Sigma abilities on the planet.

She leaned to the left.

"SLAGGIT!"

"Ratchet," a new voice called from the entrance, causing everyone in the room to jump and turn to stare.

Starscream recognized the imposing form almost immediately as the truckformer she had rode in to get here.

Hmmm. He looked bigger up close.

"I believe you should mind your language near the younglings, old friend, it would not do to have them spewing curses before their third upgrade." Mind his language? HA! That was rich! Her older brother said worst things when he clipped a wing, and he was only thirteen Vorn older than herself.

Her frame jerked roughly as Starscream felt a sudden poke in her exposed neck cables. Helm whipping around, she gave the smug white medic a glare that would freeze over the pit before her vision started to go fuzzy.

Moaning, she pressed a tiny blue servo to the punctured cables. Losing consciousness as quickly as she was, she couldn't stop the low, piercing whine that escaped her vocalizer before her world went dark.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Ratchet removed Starscream from Blasters arms the moment the youngling went limp, laying him on his cockpit to get a better view of the damaged wing.

And instantly sighed in exasperation.

"What?" Was Blaster immediate query, worry evident in the tape players speech pattern. "Wha's wrong?"

"Seeker wings are a whole lot more complicated than a Praxians wings, that's what wrong."

"What's happened?" Ratchet looked up from where he was propping up the seekerling to glance at his leader.

"Bucket-mac-maladroit over there ran into Blaster earlier," Ratchet explained, jabbing a thumb in Ironhides general direction. "while he was holding Starscream, making him fall and land on the younglings wing. Now guess who has to fix it." that last part was muttered under his ex-vents, though he was pretty sure he felt Blaster shift uneasily next to him.

"So what are ya gonna have ta do? From what I've seen, all ya need ta do ta fix Prowl or Blue's wings when they're jacked is remove 'em, ya dig?"

Ratchet sighed in aggravation. "Yes, but both Prowl and Bluestreak are _Praxian._ Their wings are connected to their backs by hinges on the outside of their armor, since their alt modes have the wings press firmly against the rest of the vehicle. Seekers, on the other servo, do have hinges, but they are _under_ the armor, since their wings jut out and need to be re-enforced. So, in order to remove Starscream wing to repair it, I have to remove his chest armor. Ya dig?" Ratchet rolled his optics at the last part, now focusing his attention on finding the latches to the youglings armor.

Ther was silence for a moment before a rather intelligent "Oh" made it's way past Blasters lip components.

"How long will the sedative last, Ratchet?" Optimus asked from his new position leaning against the opposite wall, watching with a fascinated glint in his optics. Ironhide huffed irritably and situated himself beside his leader, a grumpy looking Bumblebee by his pedes.

"Hopefully long enough for me to do this. Since I have no idea how old Starscream is, what his weight is, or if he was paranoid at even this age, I had to give him an approximate measurement, if even one of those is off, he could either wake up early, or he will wake up in a mega-cycle."

There was silence for roughly two nano-kliks before the sound of a latch opening had everyone's attention focused on the seekerling on the table. For reasons unknown to them all, they had all been horribly curios as to what the ex-Decepticon looked like under his armor for Vorns, now they had the chance, even if he was a sparkling.

With servos as still as a practiced surgeon preforming a merical, Ratchet dug his digits into the red armor beside the cockpit, pulled, and immediately pushed the armor closed again, faceplates draining of energon so he was paler than before.

"Ratchet?" Optimus's voices called from across the room, quickly follwed by the sound of heavy foot steps moving toward him.

Ratchet's head snapped up to be met by three worried pairs of optics. For a moment he stared at them, not really sure what he had just seen.

Looking back down at the seekerling propped up infront of him, he let out a long, resigned sigh, before slowly pulling the chest plates open.

Ratchet could feel all of the mecha in the room staring at the revealed second layer chest plating, something only _femmes_ had, regardless of weather they were seeker or not.

Blaster was the one to finally break the admittedly awkward silence. "So... my main S, 's a femme?"

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Bluestreak had just entered the medbay, hell-bent on getting the new dent in his wing fixed, when he heard Blasters question through the closed door on the other side of the room. Pausing to listen more closely, he confirmed what he had heard and practically bounced out of the room. Damaged wing forgotten in favor of spreading the news to the rest of the _Ark_.

**~So, hope you enjoyed it, and again, I'm sorry it took so fraggin' long. Hope the size of the chapter helps ease the pain abit. An I know I don't deserve it, but comments do help me write faster, so... REVIEW FRAGGIT!~**


	5. Hound - Red Alert - Skyfire

**Nano-klik = 1.273 seconds**

**Klik = 1.2 minutes**

**Breem= 8.3 minutes**

**Joor = hour**

**Groon = 1 hour 15 minutes**

**Orbital Cycle =1 day**

**Mega-cycle = 93 hours**

**Orn = 13 days**

**Deca-cycle = 3 weeks**

**Stellar cycle= 7.3 months**

**Meta-cycle = 13 months**

**Solar cycle = 11 years**

**Vorn = 83 years **

**~To PixelusPrime:**

**I love chu~**

**Fun fact**

**G1 Ratchet the Hatchet throwing tools and cursing at patients. Did you know the interpretation was entirely of fan origin?**

**I didn't! HA!**

Hound.

{Hound wishes he were human. The dark, barren metalscapes of Cybertron no longer interest him. Now that Hound has been shipwrecked on Earth, he considers this planet his home. He sees humankind as beautiful and wishes he could interact with their ecosphere the same way they do, to feel what they feel and to see what they see.

His nicknames are Sarge, Nose, and Sniffer}

When Hound first heard the news of Starscreams clandestine gender coding chip, the first thing he did was trade patrol shifts with Brawn and leave the room to see the currently off-duty Mirage.

The spy had been recharging soundly in his room, lights dimmed until one couldn't even see into the chamber with their optics at full compacity. However there was a light right next to the door that shined directly in the visitor face, making it imposible for a mech to use his nightvision.

Just how a spy as secretly paranoid as Mirage liked it.

Rapping quietly on the door frame, Hound waited for the tell tale sounds of Mirage waking from recharge to fully enter his friends quarters.

"Lights on." the static laced baritone of the spies vocalizer commanded from the corner opposite the only berth in the room.

Mirage didn't have a room mate, thanks to a few strings pulled by Jazz, so why the Towers mech still slept on the floor was beyond the green scout, but he couldn't really find it in him to ask. Not when it came to Mirage's rather secret paranioa sparked from his field of expertiece.

Changing his previous course, the scout dropped to the floor beside his half recharging companion. Pulling a cube of energon from subspace and holding it out for the mech sprawled out on an extra warming blanket laid out on the floor.

The blue spy grudgingly took the open cube, somewhat glaring at the scout as the nutrient rich energon slid smoothly down his gullet tubing, it's extra charge bringing his systems the rest of the way online.

Handing the empty cube back to Hound, Mirage looked up expectantly from his temporary berth.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What could have possibly been so important as to wake me from one of my few extra recharge cycles?" Mirage's glare deepened at the cheeky smile he got in return.

"You'll never believe what Ratchet just found out about our favorite ex-Decepticon adult."

For a klik Mirage seriously considerd punching the Autobot scout in the faceplates and dumping his offline frame in the hall for some random passer by to take to Ratchet, before his curiosity got the better of him. Though he could just go to any other Autobot willing to talk to him after he had recharged, Hound was one of the few mechs Mirage didn't mind being around, so he might as well hear what the fuss was about now.

"And just what did Ratchet discover that could interest me so?"

The blue and white scout watched, unimpressed, as the mech infront of him leaned forward slowly, as though about to reveal a huge secret.

It might have been at one point, but Mirage highly doubted that it was anything of the sorts anymore, not with a gossip mill like that of the Autobots.

"Starscream, king of the skies, Winglord of Vos, Decepticon Second in Command-"

"Get on with it."

"-is a femme~." Hound couldn't resist taking a photo capture of Mirage's face plates in that instant, that look was more than he could have hoped for!

Mirage was sitting up in a nano-klik, optics wide and almost pleading with the green scout that this was not some kind of joke. "Sincerly?"

Hounds smile promptly vanished, a serious frown etched onto his handsome features.

"Sincerly, 'Raj. I wouldn't joke about something like this, I know how important news like this would be to you. Even if I don't quite understand why."

The blue spy visibly relaxed at that, knowing he could trust Hound most of all the Autobots, even Prime. "So... I'm not the only one?" He asked tentatively, meekly, almost as though not really believing what his audio receptors were telling him.

"No, Mirage." Hound's smile returned, gentle, kind, nearly playful, like it always had been. "You're not the only Femme in disguise."

At that statement the -now discovered- femme in disguise smirked. "That is, I wasn't. I might be now. But it is indeed comforting to know that someone else was able to keep their true gender coding a secret. Do you think Megatron knew that his treterous SIC was of the Female coding chip?"

"I doubt it, but you never know. After all, I think ol' bucket head is smarter than he let's on."

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Red Alert.

{Red Alert is paranoid, which is not a bad trait in a Security Director if it's kept in check by reason, logic, and common sense. Red Alert is... not always so good with those other traits. The other Autobots appreciate his good intentions and eye for detail, but his ratio of false alarms to real emergencies is not always the greatest, and it makes them less likely to take him seriously when a threat is real. Inferno does his best to keep his good buddy Red out of trouble.

"I warned you guys there was trouble!"

"You always say there's trouble, Red."

Red Alert and Hoist~ "Desertion of the Dinobots"}

You know, Red Alet actually had no problem with the ex-Decepticon being aboard the _Ark _in his-her- current state, dispite what some many may believe and much to the shock of those who knew.

No, what he had a problem with was the fact that they were _sparklings._

He of all mechs knew how Dangerous a place the Ark was to a Sparkling, especialy one of Bumblebee's stamina and Starscreams... curiosity.

It had been nearly two Orbital Cycles since the sparklings had been brought back from battle, and subsequently Red Alert had all but abandoned the Security chamber. (Many of fthe crew members had dragged the Security officer to Ratchet in an attempt to find out what was wrong with him.)

PRIMUS BE FRAGGED MECHS! Why was he the _only _one who thought it a good idea to sparkling proof the _Ark_?!

If it wasn't for him, when Bumblebee had gotten ahold of the handheld laser pistol he would have severly injured himself!

Honestly. Even Ironhide seemed completely ignorant of the true threat _everthing_ on the _Ark _posed to his youngling, and he was more protective than a mother hen! As Carley had so affectionatly put it upon spying the vetran playing with the sparkling.

Sighing, he closed up the circut breaker he had been working with before sitting back, looking over his work to make sure it was secure.

Nodding in satisfaction, he picked up his small tool chest and made his way to the rec room, resolute on getting himelf a cube of Sideswipes new highgrade home brew before going back to work.

On the way, he couldn't help but wonder if all his hard work would mean something. Sure, it may help now, but for how long? Skyfire, Wheeljack, and Perceptor were still going over all the variables to see if the de-aging process was reversable.

So what if theses two plus rechage cycles spent on fine detail were only going to be needed for a few more orbital cycles?

Rubbing at his optics in a vain attempt to relieve some of the built up pressure behind them, Red Alert palmed open the door to the rec room, and reset his optics.

He reset them twice more before allowing himself to believe what he optical relays were telling him. However, when he finally did, he couldn't help the soft smile that graced his normally panicked features.

A small crowd had gathered around one of the far tables, laughs and music cascaded from there, filling ones spark with unbridled happiness.

Bumblebee was up on one of the tables, dancing with a joy only a sparkling was capable of. Optics alight with laughter as he wiggled his aft to the beat Jazz had put on.

Retrieving an energon cube and retreating from the room, he couldn't help but not care if he was the only really worried about the Younglings safety. Nor be worried that all his hard work might only be for as short a time as three joor.

He was just glad he was doing in his part in helping to keep a fellow Autobot safe.

~/~/~/~/\~\~\~\~

Skyfire.

{Jetfire is a bot of science, literally. Not only is his mind dedicated towards scientific pursuits, but his body is a testament to the technology he studies so intensely. (Some would say "religiously", but not in his presence.) Every inch of his chassis is cutting-edge and kept up-to-date. However, he does not have the trust of his teammates; it was not so long ago that he was a Decepticon. Jetfire is compassionate, so some Autobots feel that he could be soft on their enemies or, even worse, he may turn on them after realizing his "cold calculations" swing the other way.

Jetfire would find their misconceptions about science appalling. After all, is not science just the pursuit of truth? And truth, he maintains, walks hand-in-hand with liberty.

He is sometimes known as Skyfire.

"I don't believe in destiny"

—Skyfire, "Atonement"}

When Skyfire had come back from a short recon mission up in New York City with Tracks, the last thing he had been expecting was to hear: "Oh, Hey Skyfire! Guess what? Your ex-best friend and arch rival is here in the Autobot base. And guess what else? He's a sparkling."

...No. He would never have been able to guess that's what would greet him after two weeks away from the _Ark._ Not in another nine million years.

When he had heard the news, he couldn't help but wonder if they had already discovered that the infamous ex-Decepticon SIC was a femme.

Of course, they hadn't so when they had the news had spred like wild fire.

Nearly this entire _Ark_ had come up to him in the span of two orbital cycles asking him if he had known. At first he had answered them all with shruggs and nods, but finally he had grown tired of the questions and accusations. So, when Ironhide had come up to him and asked not three groon ago, he had answered: "If a friend trust you with a secret, you don't betray that trust. _Even_ if they aren't around anymore."

Needless to say, he hadn't been bothered since.

Humming to himself quietly, Skyfire turned the last corner to the science sector of the ship, and crashed to the floor in an effort to avoid stepping and the red seekerlet that had materialized under his pede.

Moaning weakly, he stared dazedly up at the ceiling for a moment before a tiny black face and small set of winglets appeard above him.

Jerking in surprise, the white shuttle slowly sat up.

"Oh, hello Starscream." He greeted, a smile rising to his facplates when the tiny seeker waved a shy servo at him.

He had seen Starscream around the base the past couple of cycles, but had never had the chanceto really interact with the youngling.

"And how are you this fine evening, Starqueen? I don't see your subsire anywhere, have you managed to slip past him again?" He asked in a playful tone, using his old nickname for the small youngling. Picking Starscream up and holding her against his cockpit, his optics moved discretly from left to right searching the halls for Blaster.

When Skyfire had gotten back and discovered Bumblebee to be in the care of Ironhide, he had been fearful that Prime had placed Starscream in the old mechs servos as well. For while Ironhide may be a good gardian for the high strong yellow youngling, Starscream was quite the opposite of the loud, obnoxious minibot. Much to the surprise and disbelief of most of the crew members.

Yes, Starscream had always been a strange one.

However, he had been relieved to hear that Optimus had infact been placed in the care of the kind sparked and incredibly patient Blaster.

Patients was somthing any bot working with Starscream required, the Sparkling may not be loud or blood thirsty, but that was what really made it hard to keep track of her.

As he stood up, a whimper from Starscream caused him to pause. Raising a questioning brow at the femmeling, he followed the invisible line she was pointing with a little blue digit to the ground, where a near microscopic- to him- bear lay on the ground.

Looking back at the youngling in his arms, he was startled to see giant red optics staring piteously at him. He couldn't stop the light chuckle from escaping his vocalizer.

At the glare he recieved from the youngling he managed to stifle the sounds of amusment. Bending over, he lifted the stuffed animal to the seekerling.

With a happy chirp and soft coo, Starscream gently took the white bear from the shuttleformers servo, playing with the red bow tied expertly around it's non-existant neck.

Chuckling again, Shyfire continued on his way to science lab 8-0-R-M, or the "BOOM ROOM" as the memebers of the _Ark_ had appointed it when Wheeljack had claimed it as his own.

"So, Starqueen, would you like to come with me to see how subsire Wheeljack will blow himself up this time?" Skyfire asked, quickly pinging Blaster to let the boom box know he had his charge.

A return ping came almost immediatly, and Skyfire chuckled quietly at the amount of 'Thank yous' Blaster had managed to fit into single Byte.

Ignoring the od lokk Starcream sent him, Skyfire palmed open the lab door- merely to have Wheeljack barrel into him at a hundred seventy two point five miles an hour.

"HIT THE DECK!" The engineer cried, nearly going unheard because of the explosion that rocked the Science department not two nano-kliks later.

Oh yes, Wheeljack had a fun time explaining to the Hatchet why Starscream was back in the medbay, charred and missing a tiny blue servo.

**I REGRET NOTHING! nothing!**

**~ATTENTION READER! There is a poll on my profile, if you would like to be able to choose which Autobot gets a chapter with our lovely Sparklings, I suggest to make a quick detour~**


End file.
